The Bullfighter Who Captured Spokane's Socialites
A Spanish bullfighter finds himself besieged by the social elite and abandons his profession for the attention of local women.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Society of this city is infatuated with Senor Enrique Robles, a Spanish nobleman of Madrid, who is now living on the finest the city affords at the Hotel Spokane. Senor Robles came to the city as a plain, ordinary Spanish bullfighter. He is known as the champion bullfighter of the world, having won the title in Spain against the most famous matadors of that country. He made an effort to pull off an exhibition in this city, but the police authorities interfered. Then he sent his manager on the road to make another date for him somewhere. But now he says he doesn't care to fight any more bulls. Spokane is too nice a place—the ladies too comely and gracious. It apparently is not his fault that he has gone out of the bull-fighting business. He has literally been surrounded, ambushed and captured by Spokane society women who are loud in their praise of him.
“He has literally been surrounded, ambushed and captured by Spokane society women.”
Celebrity obsession has deep roots; this story captures the social frenzy surrounding a 'foreign' exotic figure in a provincial city, highlighting how status and gender played out in 1904 social circles.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.